52
cards and 15 activities to spark conversations and make sense of learning.
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What
We Do

The
Firefly Group helps people make sense of what they learn and experience.

Whether facilitating a group for better decision-making, keynoting a conference,
leading a training, or writing an instructional design, we use novel methods
that engage, spark creativity, and produce memorable results.

If
this sounds like a good direction for your organization, let's talk about
how we might collaborate! Please give me a call (802.257.7247) or send an
. - Brian

A lack of collaboration, the unwillingness to share information, unnecessary
competition for recognition and resources, these are just a few of the difficulties
that can surface in an organization. Why do we encounter these barriers in
the workplace? Sometimes they appear to be baked into the environment. And
perhaps they are! In this issue of the Firefly News Flash, discover how the
environment we create for ourselves might actually encourage us to hoard resources.
.

Scarce Resources
At the annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce,
the tables were decorated in green and silver. Each place had a candle gift
wrapped for the guest. After the mayor's speech and announcement of the
parade queen, it came time to leave. On the way out, I snatched an extra
gift candle "for a friend."

Wait. Why was
I doing this? I don't need candles. I'm not even Irish!

Why, in a land
of plenty, do we feel such scarcity? Even if something is free, should we
have it - or hoard it?

Discoveries

Super Size
Me
What Do We Really Need?

Researchers wanted
to know to what degree portion size influences how much people eat. So they
went to the movies - not to watch the show but to give away buckets of popcorn.

Moviegoers were
given free popcorn. Some received a jumbo bucket while others got a super-size
jumbo bucket. For everyone, the amount they received was far more than anyone
could reasonably eat no matter how hungry they might be. Regardless of portion
size, people randomly received fresh popcorn or fourteen-day-old popcorn that
was stale, hard, and squeaky when chewed.

To gauge whether
portion size influenced consumption, the researchers weighed all the popcorn
buckets before and after the show. They found that snackers who had fresh
popcorn ate 45.3% more when they had been given a super-size jumbo bucket.
Surprisingly, there were similar results for people who had been given stale
popcorn. They ate 33.6% more when they had been given the largest container
even though the popcorn tasted bad and stuck to their teeth. Portion size
had a definite influence on consumption.

Researchers speculate
that perhaps people would eat more healthy food if it was served in a larger
portion size.

Imagine eating
a third more popcorn that you don't like just because the container is bigger.
Or taking extra gift candles just because they are there.

The environment
seems to have an outsized influence on our behavior.

But perhaps having
the right environmental conditions simply means it's easier to make the choices
that we later regret. I can imagine several ways we might explain or justify
hoarding unwanted candles or munching on stale popcorn.

Inattention,
"I must not have eaten very much yet because there's still so much in the
bucket."

Frugality,
"I hate to let all this food go to waste."

Scarcity,
"I should eat it now because who knows when I'll have food again."

Fortune, "I'm
so lucky. It's not every day you get free food."

Conditioning,
"I eat all my food. I'm a member of the Clean Plate Club."

Guilt, "Don't
waste food because there are starving children in Africa."

Pride, "Nobody
else eats popcorn like I eat popcorn."

Possessiveness,
"It's mine. I can do what I want with it."

Entitlement,
"I deserve this popcorn - all of it."

Perhaps you can
think of additional reasons someone might binge on stale popcorn. But whether
popcorn, candles, or something else, we have a metaphor to help us talk about
workplace interactions and team dynamics. Think about how distraction, unnecessary
penny pinching, fear of not having enough, a reliance on luck, years of conditioning,
guilty feelings, arrogance, selfishness, and privilege keep us in a rut. They
taint our relationships with the people who can help us, they hobble our creativity,
and they prevent us from living as our best selves.

The action-related
question that arises from all this is what sort of environment does our organization
or team have? Does the culture promote sharing, growth, and collaboration?
Or do we favor hoarding, secrecy, and unnecessary competition?

We don't always
make a distinction between what we want and what we really need. Instead,
we tend to let the surrounding situation decide for us. That's all the more
reason to be intentional about creating positive environmental cues. After
all, if you can hoard it, you can also share it.

Activities

M&M & M's
An Experiment for Your Team

You can lead
a fruitful discussion with your team by sharing the popcorn research study
with your team. However, you can infuse that discussion with more meaning
by involving your team in a research experiment of your own.

Materials:
Several large bags of M&M candies (or similar); Large serving bowl; Paper
cups in two sized, one cup for each person

Time: 30
- 45 minutes

Participants:
Five to fifteen people seated in a circle

Procedure:
Before the activity, empty the candies into the serving bowl. When people
arrive, randomly give a cup to each person making sure some have small cups
and others have large cups.

Walk around
the circle making small talk as you invite people to scoop out candies from
the serving bowl with their paper cup. Encourage everyone to take some candies
even if they do not plan to eat them.

When everyone
has been seated and has a cup of candies, ask them to count the candies
in their cup plus any they may have already eaten.

Announce that
this is not just a time for snacking but a time for sharing and getting
to know one another better. Explain that for each piece of candy they have
taken, people must share a piece of personal information or an unknown fact
about themselves.

Pause for a
moment to let that information sit with people, then look into your own
cup - which you have been very careful to only fill with two or three pieces
of candy. Announce that you will go first so you can model the type of information
people should share. Proceed to give two or three personal facts about yourself.

Ask for a volunteer
who would be willing to go next. Again, pause for effect. Whether anyone
volunteers or not, end the activity by revealing that you do not expect
anyone to share personal information and that this is really an opportunity
to talk about how the group shares resources among themselves.

Acknowledge
that some people received small cups and some received large cups. Ask people
to describe how they felt when they received their cup.

Make a chart
showing the size cup people had and the number of candies they took. What
is the relationship between cup size and size of portion taken? It's true
that people with a small cup would soon reach a limit of how much they could
take. But did people with large cups tend to take more just because they
had more cup to fill?

Point out that
people who took more may have done so because they had a larger cup. This
tendency is not uncommon and need not be a source of shame.

Share the study
about popcorn consumption from the Discoveries section above. Lead a discussion
about hoarding or sharing of resources and information in your organization
using some of the following questions.

Discussion:

What are
the specific tangible and intangible things we might hoard in our team
or our organization?

What are
the elements of organizational culture that might lead someone to be protective
of their "stuff"?

What is
the difference between hoarding objects, protecting resources, and saving
for the future? " How do you decide when you have enough?

How do you
decide when to share with other individuals or departments?

What can
we do to promote collaboration, sharing, and growth in our organization?

Please
give this activity a trial with your group then
your experience.

If
you like what you have read in this issue, I would like to bring the
same innovation, creativity, and playfulness to your next meeting or
learning event.

Whether
you need a keynote speaker, or help with strategic planning, performance
improvement, or training facilitators and trainers in your organization,
I look forward to your call (802.380.4360) or .

--
Brian

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